Obsolete:Aria
Aria is the Charm of air: seldom-noticed yet ever-present. The Queen of Spades favors it. It branches at 4 dots into the Stormcaller and Windswift trees. Read the Wind (*) The air touches all things. Flowing and all-encompassing, it feels the shapes of objects by where it is not. With this Charm, the Princess can do the same. Cost: 1 Wisp Dice Pool: None Action: Instant Effect: For the rest of the scene, you enjoy a reflexive knowledge of your surroundings, up to a range of yards. This applies to 360 degrees around you. This ability is not sight, but an additional sense which only applies while Read the Wind is active. The additional sense has a resolution of about 1/2" (2 centimeters) and you know the shapes, sizes, textures and positions of all objects in the area within that level of detail. It does not provide colour; a book appears identical whether filled with profane words or chick-lit, although in the former case, a Wits + Crafts roll may be permitted to identify the characteristic texture of human skin binding the book. The sense only works if air-currents can flow between you and an object; you can't use it to perceive what is in an air-tight box, although the fact that the draft coming from the floorboards is actually the result of an underground dungeon may be useful. The sense provides no advantage when you are not immersed in a gas (most commonly air); being under water is probably the most common case of this. While Read the Wind is active, your rolls to avoid being surprised by people in range of the additional sense ignore penalties from lack of vision -- darkness, fog, or just having your back turned. Lightning Step (**) For a moment, you see a chink in the foe's defense, and strike swiftly. Cost: 1 Wisp Dice Pool: Dexterity + Brawl or Weaponry + Aria - target's Dexterity Action: Reflexive, resisted Effect: When you make a Brawl or Weaponry attack, activate Lightning Step using the same Skill. :Dramatic Failure: The target's Defense is doubled. Failure: No effect. Success: The target's Defense against the attack is reduced by 1 for each success, to a minimum of 0. Exceptional Success: If the attack inflicts damage, the target's Defense against all attacks is reduced by 1, until his next action. Mist's Protection (***) You summon a thick fog that conceals your presence. Cost: 2 Wisps Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult + Aria Action: Instant Effect: A volume of radius equal to (10 x Inner Light) yards, centered on you, is filled with fog that completely obscures vision. It persists for at least as many turns as the number of successes rolled. In strong sunlight or moderate wind the cloud disperses when the effect expires; in calm, cloudy weather, it may last as long as the Storyteller wishes. Wings of Air (****, Stormcaller path) You become wrapped in the air's gusty embrace, and take to the skies as a leaf on the breeze. Cost: 2 Wisps Dice Pool: Wits + Athletics + Aria (- target's Dexterity, if they resist) Action: Instant, possibly resisted Effect: The target can fly for as many turns as successes rolled. Her Speed equals 3000 divided by the total weight in pounds of herself and everything she carries, or 15, whichever is less (so, <=200lb = Speed 15, 300lb = Speed 10, 500lb = Speed 6, and so on.) The target directs her own flight, if capable of acting; an unconscious or inanimate target's flight is directed by the Princess. If the target is airborne when the Charm expires, she drifts downward until touching a surface, and takes no damage from the fall. Call Down The Thunder (*****, Stormcaller path) You pitch your arms skyward and invoke the wrath of the storm, sending bolts of lightning down on your enemies. Cost: 2 Wisps/turn spent summoning clouds Dice Pool: Manipulation + Science + Aria Action: Extended, each roll is one turn Effect: As you accumulate successes, the sky fills with thunderclouds: If the weather is already cloudy, raining or storming, you get the corresponding successes for free. In any turn when you have accumulated 10 or more successes, you may direct a bolt of lightning at one target as a reflexive action. Roll Dexterity + Firearms + Aria vs. the target's Stamina + Inner Light; for each success rolled, subtract 1 from the pool controlling the storm, and the target takes 1 level of bashing damage. The target must be within your sight and exposed to the sky. If you stop using Call Down the Thunder, the current weather conditions remain, but the pool loses 1 success per turn until it is reduced to fewer than 10 successes. If you get a dramatic failure when summoning clouds, you have brought lightning down on yourself; roll for damage as above, applying it to your own health track. (You can damage yourself even if you haven't yet reached 10 successes.) Wind-borne Thought (****, Windswift path) You grant speed of thought and perceptiveness. Cost: 2 Wisps Dice Pool: Intelligence + Investigation + Aria Action: Instant Effect: Until the end of the scene, add the successes rolled to the target's Wits. This Charm cannot be used on anyone who is already under its effects. Whirlwind of Activity (*****, Windswift path) You bring focus to a group working toward a common goal, inspiring them to great heights. Cost: 1 Wisp/person affected Dice Pool: None Action: Instant Effect: When you are part of a Teamwork action, spend 1 Wisp on the primary actor. Then, each secondary actor you spend a Wisp on contributes his successes directly to the goal, instead of adding them as bonus dice to the primary roll. You must be one of the actors, either primary or secondary. Orisons Dice pool: Dexterity + Wits First: Add 9-again to Perception rolls to hear something. Second: As a secondary actor in a teamwork action, your rolls gain the Rote quality until the scene ends. Third: Reroll one Initiative roll. Category:Obsolete Charm Category:Obsolete Page